了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S05E05

Part 4 April 18, 2021, 7:47 p.m.

如果有两颗恒星围绕彼此运行
If you have two stars in orbit about each other,
这在宇宙中是很常见的
which is a very common thing in the universe,
那么它们的质量在大多数情况下是不同的
then they're not going to be the same mass in most cases.
质量大的那个会进化得更快
The one that's more massive will evolve more quickly,
随着它的进化和老化，它会膨胀
and as it ages and evolves, it will swell up,
它会变得非常之大以至于
and it will get so large that its outer surface
它的外表面
can come in contact with
可以接触到它的伴星的
the gravitational region of influence
引力影响区域
of its partner star.
较小的恒星变成了吸血鬼
The smaller star becomes a vampire.
它从它的大伙伴那里吸走
It sucks the bloated outer layer of gas
那些膨胀的外层气体
from its bigger partner.
随着吸血鬼的饕餮盛宴，它燃烧得越来越热
And as the vampire feasts, it burns hotter and hotter,
于是变成了明亮、年轻的蓝色
turning a brilliant, youthful blue.
吸血鬼的受害者被吸干了
The vampire's victim is sucked dry,
变成了一个没有生命的恒星核
reduced to a lifeless stellar core
天文学家称之为白矮星
known by astronomers as a white dwarf.
但是，就像任何优秀的恐怖电影一样
But, like any good horror movie,
这个杀人的故事有一个转折……
this murderous tale has a twist ...
爆♥炸♥的僵尸
exploding zombies.
关于僵尸有各种各样的故事
There's all sorts of stories about zombies.
如果那些死去的人
What if the dead could actually come back
真的能回来报复杀害他们的人呢？
and take revenge on the people who killed them?
嗯，类似的事情确实发生在恒星身上
Well, something similar really does happen with stars.
随着蓝色离散星的老化，它同样会膨胀得非常大
As the blue straggler ages, it swells so much,
死去的白矮星就会从吸血鬼那里
the dead white dwarf starts to steal
开始偷回来一些气体
some of its gas back from the vampire.
死亡之星再次崛起成为一个爆♥炸♥的僵尸
The dead star rises again to become an exploding zombie.
随着这些物质堆积起来，温度会越来越高
As that material piles up, it gets hotter and hotter,
就会堆积起大量的氢
and you're basically piling up tremendous amounts of hydrogen.
如果温度足够高，压力足够大
And if it gets hot enough and the pressure gets enough,
基本上就会产生一颗
basically you have created a hydrogen bomb
行星大小的氢弹
the size of a planet.
恒星爆♥炸♥
That star explodes.
这些恒星会复仇
These stars can get revenge.
一旦僵尸爆♥炸♥
Once the zombie explodes,
它就会杀死吸走它生命的吸血鬼
it takes out the vampire that sucked its life away.
几十年来，天文学家一直
For decades, astronomers have been puzzled
对他们在夜空中看到的爆♥炸♥的
by the number of tiny, dead white dwarf stars
死亡小白矮星的数量感到困惑
they see exploding in the night sky.
最终找了这个可能的解释……
But here finally could be an explanation ...
我们的银河系充满了吸血鬼
our galaxy is filled with vampires
和爆♥炸♥的僵尸
and exploding zombies.
这对我们银河系的其他地方来说意味着什么？
What does that say about the rest of our galaxy?
我们银河系中的一大部分恒星
A huge chunk of the stars in our galaxy
在某种程度上是从它们的
are sort of stealing life
朋友那里窃取生命，以保持永远年轻
from their friends to stay forever young.
吸血鬼的诞生和死亡
The birth and death of vampires
可能是我们今天看到蓝离散星的原因
could be the reason we see blue stragglers today.
但令人惊讶的是，它也可以解释
But amazingly, it could also explain
我们为什么会在这里
why we're here, too.
在这个宇宙里，没有死亡
There's no way in this universe
就没有生命
to get life without death.
如果没有超新星
You can't possibly have materials
你不可能有物质来建造行星
to build planets or people
人类或我们周围的任何东西
or anything around us without supernovae.
所以这些吸血鬼和僵尸
So these vampires and these zombies,
呃，实际上，他们是我们的父母
well, actually, they're our parents.
你和我，我们可能是
You and I, we could be the result
这些吸血鬼恒星在这些双星系统中
of these vampire stars transferring gas back and forth
来回传输气体的结果，最终导致
in these binary systems, leading to stellar explosions
恒星爆♥炸♥将生命的基石
that blew out the building blocks of life
抛射入宇宙
into the universe.
我们的主恒星，太阳，并不是一对双星
Our home star, the sun, is not in a binary pair.
但如果你认为这能让我们
But if you think that makes us safe
免受宇宙吸血鬼的伤害，那你就错了
from cosmic vampires, think again.
新的观察表明有些吸血鬼会飞
New observations suggest some vampires can fly.
如果近距离经过我们的太阳系
And a close pass by our solar system
就足以让地球
is all it takes to finish off the earth
永远消失
for good.
宇宙似乎运转得很有规律
The universe seems to run like clockwork.
卫星绕行星
Moons orbit planets.
行星绕恒星
Planets orbit stars.
而恒星本身则围绕着
And the stars themselves revolve around
银河系的中心旋转
the center of our galaxy.
一切似乎都在正确的地方
Everything seems to be in the right place,
秩序和稳定
ordered and stable.
但有些恒星杀手却不遵守规则
But some killer stars don't follow the rules.
每隔一段时间，你就会发现
Every once in a while, you find something
天空中有什么东西朝完全错误的方向疾驶
careening across the sky in exactly the wrong direction.
那个流浪恒星是怎么到那儿的？
How did that rogue star get there?
在过去的十年里，科学家们发现了
In the last decade, scientists have spotted
数百颗孤独的恒星
hundreds of lone stars
像弹道导弹一样在我们的星系中飞驰
hurtling through our galaxy like ballistic missiles.
科学家们将这些“流浪星”命名为“逃逸星”
Scientists named these rogues runaway stars
因为它们以令人难以置信的速度运动
because they can travel at incredible speeds.
我们说的是比火箭速度
We're talking about stars that are going
快1000倍的恒星
a thousand times faster than a rocket.
任何超高速的东西都是危险的
Hypervelocity anything is dangerous.
超高速恒星当然也是非常危险的
A hypervelocity star is incredibly dangerous.
如果一个直径100万英里的热气体球
A ball of hot gas a million miles across
猛冲过我们的宇宙后院
careening through our cosmic backyard.
逃离恒星甚至不需要直接命中
Runaway stars don't even need to score a direct hit
就能造成伤害
to inflict damage.
即使触及太阳系的边缘
Even grazing the outer limits of our solar system
也足以摧毁地球
could be enough to destroy the earth.
在任何情况下，你都不希望
You don't want any star getting too close to us
有任何恒星离我们太近，因为这会
under any circumstances, because that could disrupt
破坏行星的轨道
the orbits of the planets.
一颗路过的恒星甚至不需要离我们很近
A star passing by wouldn't even have to get
就能造成非常巨大的破坏
all that close to us to wreak a huge amount of havoc.
我们有巨大的奥尔特彗星云
We have the giant oort cloud of comets that extends as much
它延伸到距离太阳2光年的地方
as two light years away from the sun.
如果一颗恒星经过那里
If a star passes anywhere close to there,
我们可能就会被破坏性的彗星击中
we could be rained on by destructive comets.
太阳系的所有行星
All of the planets in that solar system
要么被破坏
would either be disrupted
要么被推入恒星……烧死
or fired into the ... into the star,
我想之后太阳系
and I would expect no solar system
就不会存在了
to remain afterwards.
天文学家追踪这些逃逸星的路径
Astronomers traced the paths of these runaway stars
发现许多逃逸星都是来自银河系中心
and found that many came from the galactic center.
在我们的星系中♥央♥
In the middle of our galaxy,
我们看到恒星都被困在
we see stars that are trapped in orbit
围绕中心黑洞的轨道上
around the central black hole.
它们就像是一群愤怒的蜜蜂
They're actually kind of buzzing around
在嗡嗡地作响
like a hive of angry bees.
嗯，这些恒星♥相♥互之间的引力作用
Well, these stars interact gravitationally with each other,
有时可以把对方
and sometimes they can fling each other
抛离银河系
clear across the galaxy.
大多数逃逸星对我们是无害
Most runaway stars are harmless to us.
它们直接从银河系中心
They shoot straight out into space
射向宇宙深处
from the galactic center.
但时不时地
But from time to time,
我们会发现离家园更近的逃逸星
we find runaway stars a little closer to home.
2016年，天文学家将注意力转向了
In 2016, astronomers turn their attention
一颗距离地球仅3000光年的逃逸星
to a rogue star just 3,000 light years away from the earth.
这颗恒星的轨道和它的成份
The star's trajectory and its composition
似乎没有任何意义
didn't seem to make any sense.
就是那颗命名为 sdss j1128 的恒星，它很奇怪
There's a star, sdss j1128, and it's weird.